1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sanitary wares, such as toilets, urinals, strainers for urinals, flush tanks for toilets or urinals, washbowls in washstands, or wash hand basins.
2. Background Art
Good appearance and high cleanness are important for the surface of sanitary wares from the viewpoints of hygiene and aesthetic effect. Further, retention of good appearance and high cleanness for a long period of time is preferred.
In order to keep the surface of sanitary wares clean and to retain good appearance of the surface of sanitary wares, it is a common practice to strongly scrub the surface thereof by a scrubbing brush or a cleaning brush containing a detergent, such as a surfactant, an acid detergent, or an alkali detergent. Specifically, stains or soils deposited on the surface of sanitary wares are removed through utilization of chemical detergency derived from the detergent and through utilization of physical cleaning action by scrubbing with the scrubbing brush or the cleaning brush.
This cleaning work is not light, and, hence, reducing the frequency of the cleaning work is desired. Further, in recent years, environmental pollution by surfactant-containing wastewater has been pointed out. Therefore, reducing the amount of the surfactant used and the frequency of use of the surfactant is desired.
Under these circumstances, several proposals have been made on sanitary wares having a surface that is highly hygienic and has good appearance.
For example, coating of a fluororesin or a siloxane resin containing fluoroalkyl groups onto the surface of sanitary ware has been proposed to lower the surface energy, thereby permitting stains or soils to be less likely to be deposited onto the surface.
Another proposal is such that the surface of sanitary ware is made smooth as much as possible to prevent stains or soils from being deposited and strongly adhered onto the surface thereof. In this proposal, however, the relationship of the surface state to the inhibition of deposition of stains or soils, fastness, and glossiness has not been fully studied. Specifically, the sanitary ware having a smooth surface has been proposed based on such mere conceptual understanding that a smooth surface would inhibit the deposition of stains or soils thereon and would be preferred from the viewpoint of aesthetic effect.
Further, in connection with the antimicrobial activity of the surface of the sanitary ware, the following techniques have been proposed for improving the glaze layer as the surface layer.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 236846/1998 discloses a pottery or ceramic whiteware product which has been prepared by applying, before firing, a transparent glaze with an inorganic antimicrobial agent incorporated therein onto a conventional color glaze and then firing the color glaze and the transparent glaze.
WO 96/23412 discloses a base glaze for a glaze layer to be provided on the surface of an antimicrobial member. The base glaze for the glaze layer is prepared by mixing water, a material for a glaze, and a pigment together, grinding the mixture to prepare a base glaze, mixing the base glaze with a heat-resistant powder bearing an antimicrobial metal, and then mixing the mixture with a binder.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sanitary ware which permits stains or soils deposited on the surface thereof to be simply removed, for example, by running water.
The above object can be attained by the following invention. Specifically, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a sanitary ware comprising at least a sanitary ware body and a glaze layer as an outermost layer of the sanitary ware, a monovalent metal component and/or a metal component having a measure of the electronegativity based on Pouling""s rule of not more than 1 (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9ccleaning metal componentxe2x80x9d) being provided so as to be releasable evenly and continuously, over the whole surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer, in such an amount large enough to impart a self-cleaning function for releasing stains or soils to the surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer, the metal component being suppliable from the glaze layer as the outermost layer and/or the sanitary ware body to the whole surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer.
According to the second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a sanitary ware wherein, in the sanitary ware according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the glaze layer as the outermost layer is a transparent glaze layer and the sanitary ware further comprises a colored glaze layer as an intermediate layer provided between the sanitary ware body and the glaze layer as the outermost layer.
According to the third embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a sanitary ware wherein the sanitary ware according to the first embodiment of the present invention further comprises a metal component layer which comprises the metal component as a main component, provided between the sanitary ware body and the glaze layer as the outermost layer, the metal component being suppliable from the metal component layer over the whole surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer.
According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a sanitary ware wherein, in the sanitary ware according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the glaze layer as the outermost layer is a transparent glaze layer and the sanitary ware further comprises, provided between the sanitary ware body and the glaze layer as the outermost layer, a colored glaze layer as an intermediate layer provided on the sanitary ware body side and a metal component layer which comprises the metal component as a main component, provided on the side of the glaze layer as the outermost layer, the metal component being suppliable from the metal component layer over the whole surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer.
According to the fifth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a sanitary ware wherein, in the sanitary ware according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the glaze layer as the outermost layer is a transparent glaze layer and the sanitary ware further comprises, provided between the sanitary ware body and the glaze layer as the outermost layer, a metal component layer which comprises the metal component as a main component, provided on the sanitary ware body side and a colored glaze layer as an intermediate layer provided on the side of the glaze layer as the outermost layer, the metal component being suppliable from the metal component layer over the whole surface of the glaze layer as the outermost layer.